Off the Work bench - Mike W, 27/02/18

Well not a very productive week on the painting front,somewhat unwell with a horrible cold for the last 3 days and that combined with a sudden urge to watch the 'Scrubs' Boxed Set currently available on Sky has limited my time for getting things done....

Whats' Off the Workbench, Tuesday 27th February?

Completed Dutch Infantry Regiment

I pretty much completed the Dutch Foot Regiment that I ran out of time completing last week, they are painted,dipped and based and just awaiting the current Siberian conditions here in S.E. England to clear-up before I spray them with Matt Varnish. Flags are ready but just need to be printed and fixed to the appropriate ensigns staffs!

The other item off the work bench this week was a small company of Texas Rangers, 7 x 28mm Wargames Foundry figures with a variety of clothing and weapons options.What I liked about these figures was the mix between flintlock technology and the use of revolvers.

7 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Texas Rangers

This unit will be an optional unit for the Texans in any Texas Revolution game, in 1836, Colt introduced their first 5-shot Paterson revolvers. If there any involved in the war of 1835-36, no-one knows but they were adopted by the Texas Navy and the Texas Rangers very early on and when the Navy ceased to exist after annexation by the US in 1843, the revolvers were all handed over to the Rangers. More <here>

Despite having a reputation for being somewhat delicate in the field and slow to reload,the extra firepower of these weapons usually meant any firefight was short but conclusive...

So whats' On the Workbench, as of right now - nothing! I will pick from a unit of 6 x 28mm Front Rank Austrian Cuirassiers,12 x North Star Cavalry (likely to be painted up as a Dutch or German unit) or another 28 x 28mm figure Infantry unit or some of the odds and ends sitting under the workbench right now. I'll see what takes my fancy tomorrow!

Off the Work bench - Mike W, 19/02/18

Tuesday 20th February - what's ON MY WORKBENCH?

Dutch 28mm Infantry Regiment awaiting completion

Well sad to say that the 28mm North Star Dutch Infantry Regiment is not yet completed and ready to leave the workbench. Made some good initial progress with this 28mm unit - really all that is needed is the detail such as hair, buttons and sword handles etc as well as touching-up of 'spoiled' areas on each figure (where I have splashed paint where it shouldn't be!). Finally there is the application of Army Painter Dark Coat and then basing. Maybe 2-3 days work, elapsed time, to get completed.

The unit is being painted in a dark-ish grey coat, dark pink cuffs and linings and various shaded trousers and socks, all highlighted by orange sashes and garter ties.

Why were these figures not completed - well that's because my order from Colonel Bills arrived last Tuesday and I got distracted by an influx of Texas Revolution figures that I'm painting to meet a deadline I have on putting on a game for this era in April.

19 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Peons, with various weapons

Amongst the new arrivals were 19 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Peasants who I will paint-up as local militia companies, these will be bolstered by the 6 peasants I painted earlier this year - making 2 companies of 12 figures plus an officer to lead them. Reassuringly difficult to control on the tabletop and at risk of running away if the officer is killed....

10 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Irregulars

The other unit that I chose to paint up this week was a group of 10 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mexican Irregulars that I can use as Tejanos or as Irregular Mexican Loyalists. These figures have pretty much all got the same basic pose but each with very different attire and weapons selection. Unit includes a trumpeter to use as a musician and officer. The officer is armed with a sword and has what appears to be a revolver in his holster - only the handle is showing - if I were being pedantic, I would have removed this from the figure to be in period for 1830s but as I'm already considering expanding collection out to the US -Mexican War of the 1840s, I have left this in place.

So what's OFF THE WORKBENCH?

Basically its the Peasant Militia and the Tejanos Volunteers!

Two Companies of Mexican Peasant Militia

The militia were painted in a basic white dress - shirts and pants - with a little variation to break-up the appearance. Pretty easy to complete in a couple of days.

Tejano Volunteers

The Tejano Volunteers are a little more colourful, I've stayed wit a predominantly brown palette to represent the amount of leather on show but added a number of jacket colours,decorative lace and neckerchiefs.

Russian Civil War - Boardgame

By way of a change we had an SPI Boardgame on Friday night as a last minute stand-in after John wasn't able to make it with his Austro-Russian Napoleonic Shako game.

Mikey N, perfect host as ever, had the game laid out and prepped, for when players arrived, in all we have 5 factions represented and Mikey running event as games-master.

The game is somewhat unique in that each player is able to control troops form each of the warring factions and may hedge their bets until the end as to if they are warring for a White for a Red victory.

As it happens the initial rounds were very bloody and player factions were thinned out very quickly, everyone enjoyed the game and we talked about adapting the game for the Spanish Civil War in future.

Victory went to the Whites, more by luck than judgement, maybe the Reds had too much focus on Belorussia and Poland or possibly as two players managed to whisk away the Czar and the White Gold stash for potential points made it simpler t push for a White victory!

Well done Mike for a good stand-in game!

Off the Work bench - Mike W, 12/02/18

Monday 12th February, what's OFF MY WORKBENCH

So I'm back from my holidays and have been painting away for the last week and have exceeded my expectations on how much I have got done.

Before sunning myself in Spain for a week I prepared 24 x 28mm North Star figures to represent the French 'Royal Italien Regiment of Foot', I have painted these fellows a umber of times before to represent various other regiments.

North Star 1670 Figures - French Royal Italien Regiment of Foot

Anyway, job done and they turned out pretty good - if I say so myself!

So - how did I exceed myself - well I also ADDED TO MY WORKBENCH on 5th February, 10 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Mountain Men to represent Tennessee Voolunteers in the Texas War of Independence Collection and 8 x 28mm Wargames Foundry Maroons - for the Anglo-Dutch Collection.

28mm Wargames Foundry Maroons

28mm Wargames Foundry Mountain Men

Using the Mountain Men as additional Tennesee Volunteers allows me to create a second ten man company, to work with Crockett's own company. The Wargames Foundry figures integrate very well with the Boot Hill figures in terms of size and style. These chaps are all clad in buckskins and are very beardy! Rather nicely, one is in a top hat and tails with buckskin leggings and a couple of the fellas seem to have gone very native - all adds to the diversity & flavour of the period....

Two of the Mountain men were painted red to bulk out the small company of Alabama Red Rovers that I already have painted.

Figures representing 2 x Alabama Red Rovers and a Standard Bearer for a Texian Volunteer Company Tennessee Volunteers (2)

Tennessee Volunteers (1)

The final figures painted were the Maroons, eight in total who were added to another eight that I'd painted at the end of last year and so missed this blog exercise! For those not in the know, Maroons were escaped / freed slaves who held out in more remote areas of a number of the Caribbean islands who armed themselves and fought long guerrilla wars against British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonial powers.

Newly painted Maroons

Still partially finished unit of 16 Maroons

I plan to use them as auxiliaries in either Caribbean or African West coast scenarios to give a little additional flavour and excitement to the more exotic theatres of the Anglo-Dutch wars.

The final point of note this week was that the weather took a brief turn for the better - sunshine and that means I could start spray varnishing some of my backlog pile of units! If I get time,maybe some of these will get photograhed and added to the blog.

So what's going to be added to my workbench this week? Not decided yet but likely a 12 man regiment of Anglo Dutch Horse or a 28 man regiment of foot - either will be painted up as Dutch.

Other possibilities include more Texians or Mexicans, I have a package of these due from Colonel Bill's this week (Along with another Squadron of Austrian / German Cuirassiers for the 1670s)